Next Steps After Possible Transmission

[Abc12]

Hi Terri,

Two nights ago, I (female) had unprotected sex with an HSV2+ male three different times in a 12-hour period. He said he was diagnosed 1 1/2 years ago and has had two outbreaks since being diagnosed. His last outbreak was roughly three months ago. He is not on daily antivirals and only takes meds when he has an outbreak.

I was ignorant of the HSV2 transmission process and blindly believed him when he told me his doctor said it was “impossible” for him to transmit HSV2 if he wasn’t having an outbreak. After two days of researching, I now know this is untrue.

My head is spinning from all the info I’ve gathered the last couple days and I’m extremely anxious/mad at myself. So, 1) what are the chances I’ve been infected? 2) what do I even do next? Do I have to wait a while before I’m able to go get tested?

Thanks very much for your help!

[Terri Warren]

It really isn’t possible to know your exact risk but there is certainly some risk here. I would suggest that you be very observant of any genital symptoms you might have for the next 10 days. If you experience anything that is remarkably different than normal go in right away to be seen and swab tested. Should we assume that no condoms were used for these encounters?

You can do an igG test at about 6 weeks to see where you stand or you could do one now to get a baseline value so you can compare that to later results.

Terri

[Abc12]

Yes, the encounters were stupidly unprotected. I’ll definitely be monitoring everything closely the next 10 days and will do the igG at 6 weeks. Thank you so much for this forum, it has definitely provided some comfort while I’ve been trying to not have a total panic meltdown.

[Terri Warren]

Good, glad to be helpful.

Terri

[Author]

Posts